Poirot Bk16: Murder in the Mews & other stories (3/4)

Hecule Poirot: Dead Man's Mirror

Murdered/Suicide:

Sir Gervase Chevenix-Gore shot himself through his right temple by a pistol while sitting on a chair facing the window. Bullet hit & smashed the mirror above his desk in his study room. Pistol dropped on the floor. Before death, he wrote 'Sorry' on a piece of paper.

Victim:

Sir Gervase, last of Chevenix-Gore, has vast wealth in properties

-egoistic

-abit madman sense

-incredible rich and prosper at everything he does

-can't stand improper marriage and get angry easily

-younger bro, sis died

Previous will->Ruth gets alot more portion than Hugo

2nd will, unsigned and unendorsed-> Ruth will inherit only if she marrys Hugo

Crime Scene:

All the windows were self fastened and locked.

-key in Sir Gervase's pocket

-shattered mirror

-a tiny bit of the mirror stick sticked on the bronze structure

-outside the window was a flower bed and four footprints were found at the corner

The madhouse practise: puntucality for dinner

1st gong sounded by SNELL: 15mins before dinner

2nd gong: 7mins before dinner

Every guest must assemble quickly in the drawing room after 2nd gong sounded. Sir Gervase would usually be in the drawing room by that time.

Suspects:

1) Ruth, an attractive lady

-adopted daughter of Sir Gervase, known to be illegimate daughter of his younger brother who died in war.

-was plucking flowers in the flower bed outside the study room

-(on her own account) : she wanted to get into the house fast and tried to get in through the study room but found the window locked.

-could have committed the murder and escaped through the window and lied about the motive of being on the flowerbed.

-seemed to be with Mr Burrows

-motive: could possibly kill Sir Gervase so that she does need to marry Hugo to get the inheritance

-later known to have married to Captain Lake 3 yrs ago

-seemed to hide nothing

-she was leaving the flowerbed when she heard the shot

2) Mr Hugo, nephew of Sir Gervase whom Sir Gervase did not like.

-His mother's marriage was not approved by Sir Gervase.

-wanted inheritance from Sir Gervase which he deserved

-brought Susan Cardwell, his girlfriend whom known for 1 month, to the house

-is willing to marry Ruth to get the inheritance in the 2nd will

-prepared to divorce Ruth after marriage

-Susan could be a decoy, afterall many men would like to take Ruth as their wife

-was one of the four people in the hall when the shot broke

3) Colonel Bury

-lives in the house and is close to Mrs Vander, wife of Sir Gervase.

-Sir Gervase did not think him as threat he thought highly of himself

'No women will choose not himself'

-had some company losing money issues with Sir Gervase although Sir Gervase was not badly affected as he was still very rich

-had a suspicious dangerous item, a bullet pencil

-emotion did not change when Poirot found his pencil, had the least idea that Poirot found it with
Miss Lingard who picked it up in the crime scene

4) Miss Lingard, assistant hired historical research work for Sir Gervase

-hired 2 months ago

-helped Sir Gervase with the book he was writting

-The only person who knew the coming of Poirot other than Sir Gervase

-(On her account): noticed that Sir Gervase was displeased & worried and mentioned about the dishonor of the family. He seemed to be in shock.

-relayed the message of postponing the dinner time to 15mins later.

-Suspiciously picked up a silver shiny object at the crime scene and claimed that it was Colonel Bury's bullet pencil

-one of the 4 in the hall

-only one in the drawing room when the shot was heard

5) Mr Burrows, secretary

-was alone in the library

-carry torch for Ruth

6) Mrs Gervase

Curious:

-judging from the angle, Sir Gervase must be leaning his body to the right, so that the bullet passing through his brain can fly up and hit the mirror

-everyone seemed to believe that Sir Gervase had shot himself

Leads:

-The strange paper bag for oranges in the drawing room

-Miss Cardwell was in her room near the gong, thought that she had heard the first gong and scrambled to change at 2nd gong.

-The study room's window can actually be locked from outside (with skills)

-The Flowerbed's footprints were smoothen even though Ruth went there to pick flowers. Only a few footprints of heel were left on the corner

-Death of Sir Gervase was before the arrival of Poirot, means that the murderer didn't want Sir Gervase's success in his investigation.

-Then what did Sir Gervase want Poirot to investigate?